This Week in Home Improvement: The Family Room

Backstory: When we moved in the family room was a dark cave with no windows.



So the first thing we did was cut a hole in the wall to put in a window.


Which was a very popular move.


Then we painted the dark woodwork a creamy white to further brighten up the room.


Took down the striped vinyl wallpaper which was sort of peeling off the walls of its own accord.


And painted the walls pale yellow.


Then we needed to replace the carpet, which was old and beyond disgusting. This was a tricky one, since the room has a slider from the backyard and also a major walkway into the kitchen, so lots of traffic with sometimes dirty shoes.

Last week we ripped up the carpet and pad (which could've been an advertisement for why you never want carpet in your house -- GAH! DISGUSTING! STINKY! DUSTY! WEIRD SCAREY STAINS!). The kids pried up all of the staples (child labor at its best) and Rick fixed all of the many, many, many squeaks in the floor, because not only was the floor icky to walk on, it was noisy.


And this week we got a wood floor.


It matches the wood in the entry that we put in when we first moved in. As a matter of fact, we had the same people put it in (Prestige Flooring -- I highly recommend them). So now the entire first floor is carpet-free. Wow, does it feel so much cleaner in here!

While the guys were laying the floor, we spent the day upstairs reading The Red Pyramid (fantastic book -- you need to read it if you haven't already) and teaching Thalia and AnnaBeth how to crochet. Then the crew moved upstairs and did the hallway while we headed out to some classes.

Today we have a lovely, quiet day at home planned.